|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
Frequently Bought Together
Product Details
|
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Recently we have seen plenty of irrational behavior, whether in politics or the world of finance. What makes people act irrationally? In a timely but thin collection of anecdotes and empirical research, the Brafman brothers—Ari (The Starfish and the Spire), a business expert, and Rom, a psychologist—look at sway, the submerged mental drives that undermine rational action, from the desire to avoid loss to a failure to consider all the evidence or to perceive a person or situation beyond the initial impression and the reluctance to alter a plan that isn't working. To drive home their points, the authors use contemporary examples, such as the pivotal decisions of presidents Lyndon B. Johnson and George W. Bush, coach Steve Spurrier and his Gators football team, and a sudden apparent epidemic of bipolar disorder in children (which may be due more to flawed thinking by doctors making the diagnoses). The stories are revealing, but focused on a few common causes of irrational behavior, the book doesn't delve deeply into the psychological demons that can devastate a person's life and those around him. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Review
Praise for SWAY*
"A breathtaking book that will challenge your every thought, Sway hovers above the intersection of Blink and Freakonomics."--Tom Rath, coauthor of the New York Times #1 bestseller How Full Is Your Bucket?
“Now we know why no one ever coined the phrase ‘rational exuberance.’ Behind the surprising ways we all make choices, the Brafmans find biology, humanity, and the wisdom of our collective experience. As a longtime student of how financial decisions are made, I found their insights utterly fascinating. Once I started reading, I couldn’t stop—and I suspect the Brafmans could tell you exactly why!”
--Sallie Krawcheck, CEO, Citi Global Wealth Management
"Count me swayed--but in this instance by the pull of entirely rational forces. Ori and Rom Brafman have done a terrific job of illuminating deep-seated tendencies that skew our behavior in ways that can range from silly to deadly. We'd be fools not to learn what they have to teach us."--Robert B. Cialdini, author of New York Times bestseller Influence
“Brilliant.”
—Klaus Schwab, chairman of the World Economic Forum
"A page-turner of an investigation into how our minds work . . . and trick us. Think you behave rationally? Read this book first."--Timothy Ferriss, author of the New York Times #1 bestseller The 4-Hour Workweek
"Sway helped me recognize an aspect of irrational behavior in my experimental work in physics. Sometimes I have jumped into some research that didn't feel quite right . . . but some irrational lure, such as the hope of quick success, pulled me in."--Martin L. Perl, 1995 Nobel Laureate in Physics
*DISCLAIMER: If you decide to buy this book because of these endorsements, you just got swayed. One of the psychological forces you’ll read about in Sway is our tendency to place a higher value on opinions from people in positions of prominence, power, or authority.
(But you should still buy the book.)
"If you think you know how you think, you'd better think again! Take this insightful, delightful trip to the sweet spot where economics, psychology, and sociology converge, and you'll discover how our all-too-human minds actually work."--Alan M. Webber, founding editor of Fast Company magazine
"A breathtaking book that will challenge your every thought, Sway hovers above the intersection of Blink and Freakonomics."--Tom Rath, coauthor of the New York Times #1 bestseller How Full Is Your Bucket?
“Now we know why no one ever coined the phrase ‘rational exuberance.’ Behind the surprising ways we all make choices, the Brafmans find biology, humanity, and the wisdom of our collective experience. As a longtime student of how financial decisions are made, I found their insights utterly fascinating. Once I started reading, I couldn’t stop—and I suspect the Brafmans could tell you exactly why!”
--Sallie Krawcheck, CEO, Citi Global Wealth Management
"Count me swayed--but in this instance by the pull of entirely rational forces. Ori and Rom Brafman have done a terrific job of illuminating deep-seated tendencies that skew our behavior in ways that can range from silly to deadly. We'd be fools not to learn what they have to teach us."--Robert B. Cialdini, author of New York Times bestseller Influence
“Brilliant.”
—Klaus Schwab, chairman of the World Economic Forum
"A page-turner of an investigation into how our minds work . . . and trick us. Think you behave rationally? Read this book first."--Timothy Ferriss, author of the New York Times #1 bestseller The 4-Hour Workweek
"Sway helped me recognize an aspect of irrational behavior in my experimental work in physics. Sometimes I have jumped into some research that didn't feel quite right . . . but some irrational lure, such as the hope of quick success, pulled me in."--Martin L. Perl, 1995 Nobel Laureate in Physics
*DISCLAIMER: If you decide to buy this book because of these endorsements, you just got swayed. One of the psychological forces you’ll read about in Sway is our tendency to place a higher value on opinions from people in positions of prominence, power, or authority.
(But you should still buy the book.)
"If you think you know how you think, you'd better think again! Take this insightful, delightful trip to the sweet spot where economics, psychology, and sociology converge, and you'll discover how our all-too-human minds actually work."--Alan M. Webber, founding editor of Fast Company magazine
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most helpful customer reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Very Insightful,
By Rocky Mountain Entrepreneur "Rocky Mountain E... (Alberta, Canada) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior (Hardcover)
I found this book fascinating. It was written by two brothers, one a business consultant and the other a psychologist. The insights and studies related to consumer (and human, in general) behaviour were very good and very relevant for today's business people and consumers alike. They use a number of studies that clearly outline frailties in human nature and then make suggestions of how to mitigate oneself from doing the same mistakes. I conducted an informal study like one of the ones in the book and found that some of the principles differed based on gender and background. The reading is very light, say about a grade 10 level at most (I ready it in a couple of hours) so it is very easy to understand. My only complaint is not having more depth in the information or further explanation. I would recommend it to anyone. I have now had a number of friends borrow the book and all of them found it very fascinating as well and some have indicated they will purchase it as well. I had first found out about this reading a professional executive summary that comes around to work, and from that decided to buy it and I am glad I did.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting but too much stuffing,
By Mark (Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior (Hardcover)
Sway attempts to provide some simple and concrete rules about the 'forces' that drive us. There are interesting anecdotes and the presentation is well conceived: the authors make their points clearly and frame their ideas in a way the reader can apply to his or her own experience. However, I found that they sometimes got a bit carried away with / over-applied their simple ideas, and that a much thinner book could have carried equal weight.Overall, it was a somewhat enjoyable read with a few thought-provoking sections. I recently read 'Predictably Irrational', and found that to be a much better book.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
Swaying in the wind,
By
This review is from: Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior (Paperback)
Some interesting ideas, a survey of some of the ideas in the literature, tons of examples.But overall, doesn't really answer the question about WHY we are swayed, but quite a lot of WHEN we are swayed and HOW we are swayed. It seems to wander all over the map, snippets here and there, back to this, ahead to that... Could use a bit more hard core summary -- jut when we are attracted to irrational behaviour and why. Why do we engange in irrational behaviour? Naming it doesn't explain it. Why are we programmed to ovoid loss even at the expense of winning? Why to we hate to see someone else win? The book needs a bit more structure, a bit more focus. Every chapter is sort of the same with new examples. Anyway, some interesting annecdotes, but ultimately the book fails to move.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Want to see more reviews on this item?
|
Most recent customer reviews |
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
